Health
Upon entering a dungeon, Health starts at the hero's max. A flat bonus to this is granted with armor upgrades, and a percent bonus/penalty can be applied with trinkets. When a hero returns from a dungeon, s/he is fully healed; damage does not carry over from dungeons. While in a dungeon, a hero can be healed by a flat amount via hero abilities, or by a percent via food. Damage from enemies is always flat. Since the only healing/damage which is applied as a percent is healing from food, high-Health heroes benefit more from healing via food. Conversely, low-Health heroes benefit less from (percent) healing via food, which means (flat) ability healing comparatively benefits low-Health heroes more.Camping abilities can add many percent heals as well, so medium and long quests slightly favor high-HP heroes. (Conversely, short quests oppose high-HP heroes, thus favoring low-HP heroes.)
However, ability healing and food are resources, too. It's important to make sure heroes will have enough healing during their embarkation. Short quests often don't contribute enough damage to require much healing. An Occultist with Wyrd Reconstruction takes care of emergencies while still contributing to the fight with his other abilities. A Leper on a medium quest might benefit from buying an extra slot of food. If the party consists of a Hellion, a Highwayman and a Grave Robber, a Vestal dedicated to healing will keep them away from Death's Door while they crit away the Stress.
Near the end of the quest, managing Health becomes much less important since it will be reset upon exiting the dungeon.
PROT and Dodge are stats that affect Health as well. PROT reduces incoming Health damage, and Dodge is a chance to completely avoid damage from an enemy. Some sources of damage cannot be dodged (Blight, Bleed). Dodge can be acquired from upgraded armor, but PROT is quite rare and can only be affected by Quirks, Trinkets, and abilities. (PROT is not fully understood at this time; currently, the hypothesis is that every 5% reduces incoming damage by 3.)
Stress
For every hero, Stress can go up to 100. At that time, the hero's will is tested, and the hero will acquire an Affliction.Sources of stress and stress relief are always flat. However, heroes can acquire Stress Resist, which reduces incoming stress but does not affect stress relief. Unlike Health, a hero's Stress is carried back to town and into dungeons.
Because Stress is never reset automatically, it is more important to manage Stress at all times.
Common sources of Stress include walking in darkness, being crit by an enemy, being hit by Tempting Goblet or other stress-inducing enemy abilities, being hit by traps, interacting with some curios, and having another party member who is Afflicted negatively. Not eating or using a shovel when prompted also increases stress.
Easy ways to relieve Stress include critting an enemy, dealing a finishing blow to an enemy, interacting with some curios, having another party member who is Afflicted positively, camping, and spending time at the Tavern or Abbey.
Examining these two lists, it is clear that spending gold is a common way to relieve Stress (preemptively or immediately): food, shovels, and town buildings. Managing stress can also mean managing hero stats: dodge can help avoid stressful enemy abilities and would-be enemy crits, and more hero crits means more stress relief.
Light Levels
The Darkest Dungeon community is suggesting low light levels are strictly better. However, upon examining the two hero resources, it becomes less clear, especially when considering that bad Health can kill a hero, but bad Stress won't (directly).Low light levels increase both player crits (relieving Stress) and loot (of which gold/gems can be converted into Stress relief), but also increase enemy damage and accuracy (thus lowering more Health). Therefore, low light level runs are fantastic for reducing Stress, but could result in heroes losing more Health. High light level runs can be less rewarding and cause a bit more Stress, but heroes will suffer less Health damage and survive. Be aware of which resource your heroes will need and provision them accordingly.
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